NZME's senior leaders in print, online and radio journalism talk to local businesspeople at the Tauranga Chamber of Commerce. Photo / George Novak
New Zealand's senior leaders in print, online and radio journalism are in the Bay of Plenty to talk about the global trends in media.
NZME's top trio Shayne Currie, Dean Buchanan and Matt Headland spoke to local businesspeople at the Tauranga Chamber of Commerce this morning about how New Zealand journalism was working to keep Kiwis in the know.
NZME managing editor Shayne Currie explained the recent launch of premium digital subscriptions and how premium content came together from a local and international perspective.
Currie said NZME had hit its annual target of 10,000 new digital subscribers in the first six weeks.
"Most of our digital subscriptions have been driven by local content. Bay of Plenty has been phenomenal in terms of driving digital subscriptions," he said.
Recent readership numbers show more than 1.7 million people are reading NZ Herald journalism each week, and more than one million people are reading NZME's regional journalism - including the Bay of Plenty Times and Rotorua Daily Post - each week.
Currie said journalistic instinct, backed up by data, was determining what was labelled premium content on nzherald.co.nz.
"It is a select percentage of stories that we say this content is worth paying for through digital subscriptions," he said.
"It is unique and exclusive content. It is journalism that reporters have spent time on. You are expecting in-depth interviews, stories and commentary that really drills into issues and topics."
NZME group director of entertainment Dean Buchanan gave an insightful look into NZME's entertainment brands, what makes them tick and how new brands had been developed and enhanced in the past year.
Buchanan also talked about the future and using an integrated approach to print, online and radio journalism to keep Kiwis in the know.
"The big change in radio in the last five years is it used to be a medium that was all about what you hear," he said.
Now Buchanan said radio was integrated across all media channels, including partnerships with TVNZ.
"Radio is so beyond AM and FM now, it lives in the local newspaper, it lives online and most importantly it is where the audience is," he said.
NZME chief commercial officer Matt Headland gave a view of the overall NZME audience, where and how people are consuming content and some of the challenges all media and advertisers are facing with emerging new digital and social technology.
"It is very important for us to be very present in the local community, to own a local relationship and be the forefront of how we communicate with the local audience here in Tauranga," he said.
Headland said 48 per cent of people in the Bay of Plenty were more likely to engage with NZME print over other markets in NZ and 24 per cent engaged in print four times a week.
"This market particularly is highly engaged in print, it is highly engaged in the local paper, it is highly engaged in the local NZ Herald," he said.
"We take that audience and migrate across radio and digital platforms. No other media business can do that. That drives our engagement higher than anybody else."
Headland said NZME was the biggest employer of media and content people across NZ, with 1500 people working at NZME across all markets.
"Not only are we interested in engaging with local communities, but we also employ them," he said.
"That is one of the principles why we launched premium content, because we want to preserve, and enhance local journalism."